Monday Roundup: Shepard Snags First League Honors
Last Week:
Friday, March 6: Bobcats 1, Brown Bears 0
Saturday, March 7: Bobcats 5, Brown Bears 2
This Week:
Thursday, March 12: Bobcats vs. Wings, VFW Sports Center, 7:15pm
Friday, March 13: Bobcats vs. Brown Bears, VFW Sports Center, 7:15pm
Saturday, March 14: Bobcats vs. Brown Bears, VFW Sports Center, 7:15pm
Righting the Shep
FRISCO, TX – Following a pair of weekend wins—including a shutout—to move above .500 for the first time in 2014-15, Bismarck Bobcat goaltender Hunter Shepard earned the NAHL Central Division Star of the Week award Monday.
It is the first time Shepard has picked up the Central’s top weekly honor.
“I thought Hunter was a big reason why we had a good weekend. He faced some quality scoring chances and has come a long away in his development this season,” remarked Bobcats head coach and general manager Layne Sedevie on the rookie netminder, who now sits 13-12-0 after starting the year 1-7-0.
“He has worked hard to become a better goalie and we feel real confident with our goaltending tandem of ‘Shep’ and Alex Bitsakis right now.”
Shepard stopped 34 of 36 shots he faced over the weekend and picked up his first career goose-egg in Friday’s 1-0 victory over Kenai River.
For the Kids
In conjunction with the Basin Electric Power Cooperative, the Bobcats will host their sixth annual St. Baldrick’s Night Thursday when the Aberdeen Wings come to town for a 7:15pm date.
For the game, the Bobcats will wear special edition St. Baldrick’s Foundation jerseys for the night which will be auctioned off to benefit research, awareness and curing of childhood cancer.
During the event, players, coaches and staff will have their heads shaved to help raise awareness as well.
Tickets are now on sale for Thursday’s charity contest and the rest of the weekend: fans can buy and print tickets online 24 hours a day at BismarckBobcats.com or charge by phone at 222-3300.
Post Time
As conference tournaments wrapped up at the D-III level and got started for Division I, plenty of Bobcat alumni got in on the postseason action over March’s first weekend.
In the WIAC championship, 2010-11 Bobcat forward Mike Fazio tallied the game-winning goal for Wisconsin-River Falls as they upset top-seeded Wisconsin-Stevens Point 3-1 Saturday.
Elsewhere, 2012-13 center Bob Kinne also notched a goal in the MIAC finals for St. Mary’s, who came up one game shy of a national tournament bid in a 4-2 loss to Hamline.
In the first round of the Atlantic Hockey tournament, Stanislav Dzakhov picked up a goal for Niagara as the Purple Eagles pulled a first-round shocker, ousting #6 seed Holy Cross in three games.
2009-10 blueliner Dan Weissenhofer contributed three assists for seventh-seed Air Force in a two-game sweep of American International to advance to the AHA’s round of eight.
Charlie Mosey (2010-11) chipped in an assist for Dartmouth to help the Big Green move on with a sweep of 12th-seeded Princeton.
Out west, five other alums found their way onto the scoresheet over the last weekend of regular season play in the WCHA and NCHC: Dominic Panetta (Ferris State, 2a); Matt Pohlkamp (Bowling Green, 1a); Blake Hietala (Michigan Tech, 1a); Tommy Burke (Bowling Green, 2-0-0, 33 SV); and Ryan Massa (Nebraska-Omaha, 1 GP, 0-0-1, 22 SV).
Coming Up
After Thursday’s St. Baldrick’s Night, the Bobcats will host the defending Robertson Cup champion Fairbanks Ice Dogs Friday and Saturday at the VFW Sports Center.
Live coverage of all three weekend games will begin at 6:45pm locally on SuperTalk 1270, KLXX-AM, the radio home of Bobcat Hockey, and worldwide online at NAHL.FASTHockey.com, the official web television partner of the North American Hockey League.
Though the 2014-15 season is entering its home stretch, pro-rated season tickets are still available for the last run of home games; fans who want to lock in their seats for the remainder of the campaign should call the Bobcat office at 222-3300 today!